Golden girl Becky James ready to step out of Victoria Pendleton shadow

Golden girl Becky James ready to step out of Pendleton shadow

Double world champion Becky James is ready to step into the shoes of Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton after becoming British cycling’s latest golden girl.

James enjoyed a stunning world track championships in Minsk last weekend after winning two golds in the sprint and keirin to add to two bronze medals.

The 21-year-old from Abergavenny became the first British cyclist to win four medals at one world championships.

The retired Pendleton claimed six world titles and two Olympic gold medals in her glittering career, including triumphing in the keirin final at London 2012.

After a couple of years blighted by illness and injury, James was only an Olympic reserve to Pendleton because Games rules meant Britain could only have one rider per event.

But James has put her Olympics disappointment behind her and proved she is ready to emerge from Pendleton’s shadows on the world stage.

“It’s absolutely crazy to think Vicky was winning world titles last year and no-one expected me to come up and do that this year,” said James.

“To step into her shoes and experience what she went through is the strangest thing.

“She was such a phenomenal athlete and had so many world titles and Olympic medals under her belt.

“No-one can compare me to her, she was a complete different level.

“I remember watching her before the 2008 Olympics when she was training in Newport.

“It was my dream to be in her shoes one day and to be winning a world title like her, and now I have.

“I would love to think I could achieve what she has in her career.

“This is a great start for me, but people forget I’m still only 21.

“Vicky retired in her 30s, so if I keep going I have another 10 years ahead of me.”

James has received widespread adulation since returning from Belarus.

The 21-year-old spent yesterday swamped with media interviews at the National Velodrome in Newport, alongside fellow Welsh world champion and Cardiff A-level student Elinor Barker, who triumphed in the team pursuit.

“I have not expected the reaction because I was in a bubble in Minsk,” said James, who flies off to Argentina tomorrow for a short holiday.

“I knew I had a lot of support back home because of messages of support from Twitter and Facebook.

“But coming back to see that people are talking about what I did and that I am in the papers and on television, is still quite surreal and hasn’t sunk in.

“If someone said I would come away with one medal I would have been over the moon. But to have four medals around my neck is unbelievable.

“I can’t believe no-one else has done that before and I’ve created a bit of history.

“I didn’t expect that and the coaches didn’t either.

“I knew I had been training well and my form was good and something just clicked out there.”

James will defend her world titles next year and compete in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where she will take on Olympic sprint champion Anna Meares, who missed the Minsk event after taking a break.

James won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games sprint in Delhi in 2010 behind Meares and is looking forward to renewing the rivalry.

“There is a lot more to come from me and I am excited,” said James.

“Anna has really kicked on since Delhi and taken things to another level.

“Hopefully she will be back racing at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where I will hopefully be at another level too.”

But James and Meares will only be able to compete in two events, with the keirin and team sprint absent from the Commonwealths competition schedule.

This is despite the two events appearing on the world and Olympic programme, while there is also no team pursuit title for the women for Barker and Wales to compete in despite all the races being included in the men’s list.

James is hoping the races can still be added to the schedule, especially the team sprint event which she would ride with older sister Rachel.

“It is such a shame they are not on the schedule,” said James.

“It would be a dream to ride in the Commonwealths alongside my sister, who been training so hard.

“Hopefully that can still happen.”

James was reunited with the rest of her family last night after her grandparents witnessed her success first hand in Minsk.

The father of her Wales rugby-playing boyfriend George North recently hit the headlines when he ran onto the Paris pitch to celebrate

James, who joked her father Dai might have done the same thing had he been in Minsk, admitted her relationship with North kept her grounded.

And, as fate would have it, North was helping Wales defeat Italy in Rome just before James won her first gold medal in Belarus.

“I was luckily sitting by the television guys and they were keeping me up to date with the rugby scores,” revealed James.

“I have a couple of weeks off now and I’m just looking forward to being able to relax and go and support him in the Six Nations.

“Normally I would be training and miss his games because I have so much on. But it’s great because we go through the same things, even though we’re in different sports.

“If I’m stressed out with cycling I know he has gone through the same thing in rugby.

“So we can talk to each other about it and forget it.

“It makes it so much easier to understand how we’re feeling and we bounce off each other and drive each other on.

“When I see him score a try, that just drives me on and makes me want to perform.

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